A response journal is very much like a diary. In this journal, you will be exploring your feelings about and reactions to the novel you are reading. Keeping a response journal gives you an opportunity to express your own opinions about what is happening in the novel. Passages that upset you, make you happy, or that you do not understand can be discussed in your journal entries. You will have a chance to ask and answer questions that you think are important.
Possible sentence starters for response journals:
• I think…
• I wonder…
• I predict…
• I like..
• I wish…
• I don’t understand…
• I now understand…
• If I were the author…
• This part reminds me of…
• It seems to me…
• I question…
• If I were (name of character), I would have…
• I noticed…
• I liked the idea that…
• Now I understand…
• What impressed me in this chapter was…
• This reminds me of…
• I felt..
• In my opinion…
• I know someone like…
• When this happens to me, I feel..
• One time I…
• It was, or was not fair when…
• The author could have…
• My favorite characters…
• The part I liked best…
• I would like _ as a friend because…
• It upset me when…
• I was shocked when/by…
A response journal is very much like a diary. In this journal, you will be exploring your feelings about and reactions to the novel you are reading. Keeping a response journal gives you an opportunity to express your own opinions about what is happening in the novel. Passages that upset you, make you happy, or that you do not understand can be discussed in your journal entries. You will have a chance to ask and answer questions that you think are important.
Possible sentence starters for response journals:
• I think…
• I wonder…
• I predict…
• I like..
• I wish…
• I don’t understand…
• I now understand…
• If I were the author…
• This part reminds me of…
• It seems to me…
• I question…
• If I were (name of character), I would have…
• I noticed…
• I liked the idea that…
• Now I understand…
• What impressed me in this chapter was…
• This reminds me of…
• I felt..
• In my opinion…
• I know someone like…
• When this happens to me, I feel..
• One time I…
• It was, or was not fair when…
• The author could have…
• My favorite characters…
• The part I liked best…
• I would like _ as a friend because…
• It upset me when…
• I was shocked when/by…